


Le Chant des Sirènes.

by SuperAnarchy



Category: Actor RPF, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 09:41:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4430444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperAnarchy/pseuds/SuperAnarchy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Le chant des Sirènes' a.k.a 'Falling for the Siren’s song.'</p><p>In which Chris is a fisherman who one day meets Sebastian, who happens to be a merman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Le Chant des Sirènes.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this fic written for a long time and I thought I should post it at some point, so here it is :3
> 
> Here's my [tumblr](http://superanarchy.tumblr.com/) if you wanna chat me up !

Chris is a young fisherman.

His father is a fisherman, his grand father, at the age of sixty-seven is still a fisherman; his great-grand father was a fisherman, and _his_ father before him, and so on. Chris doesn’t know when it all started, he just knows it runs in his blood, it’s the family business. The Evans’ have been known for decades to be the greatest fishers around town. They even own two boats which, knowing how expensive they are, is a very big deal.

Yet, his family isn’t rich, far from it actually. They’re all living in the same small house, with one bedroom where Chris’ grandfather sleeps; his parents have the couch in the living room; and Chris? Well, Chris sleeps on a makeshift bed. It’s a thin little mattress on the floor, the floor he can feel through the material. It’s not comfortable, but he won’t complain. It’s sufficient enough to sleep and to feels secure, hearing his parents softly snoring at night when, even exhausted, Chris can’t fall asleep. Feeling their presence close to him while he’s dreaming of seas and stars.

Chris is barely fifteen the day he goes out all by himself. It’s still _very_ early, the darkness of the late night and the light of the moon mixing in a perfect, beautiful harmony, dancing with the first rays of sunshine. With only the indescribable colours of the sky for company, Chris walks through the empty streets. Footsteps echoing as he strides to the docks. He climbs in his little boat, only listening to the small voice inside his head whispering to sail as far away from the coast as he possibly can.

Navigating is Chris’ real pleasure, not that he minds fishing, it’s relaxing, but what he dreams of is travelling around the world in his boat, just him and the silence and calm of the sea. The ocean feels like home to Chris, it’s where he spends all of his time with his dad, and where he chooses to spend all of his free time – which isn’t much.

Once or twice a year, Chris’ father allows him to have a day for himself, and Chris never sleeps much the night before, anticipating. Too thrilled to have a free day to spend how he’d like to spend each and every one of them: losing himself in the deep, fascinating waters. His mother though, she never lets him get out of the house until he’s finished his bowl of milk and eaten the piece of stale bread.

At first she used to wake up at the same time Chris did, so she could tenderly look at her flesh and blood jumping everywhere around the house; she’d shush him then, reminding him of his grandfather still asleep in the other room. But not anymore; they agreed that Chris, being fifteen, is old enough to take care of himself, but she makes sure to leave for Chris his bowl of milk and his piece of bread on the table before she goes to bed; and Chris knows it’s the first thing she looks at when she gets up, if he drank and ate it all.

It’s almost half past two in the afternoon, Chris can tell by the position of the sun in the sky. That’s another thing Chris loves, besides the ocean, it’s the immensity of the world wrapping his little bubble. Whether it’s the sky or the sea, it feels like outside is waiting for him. The whole world looks infinite, the limit being determined by his eyesight. He’d love to pop that little bubble and discover the world, he knows there’s _so much_ to see, and yet he’s trapped here.

Don’t misunderstand, Chris likes it where he lives. It’s a small town, everyone knows everyone, and people are always so kind. But Chris always felt more comfortable both feet on a boat than on the ground.

What Chris secretly dreams of, actually, is to witness where the world ends. Where the vastness of the water stops; where he and his little boat could fall into the absolute void, Chris wants to see the end of the planet earth. He’ll never tell his father, he would be grounded to dare think of that possibility, and break his mother’s heart for dreaming of leaving them, _her_. Even if he could, Chris isn’t sure he’d be able to leave them anyway. So better say nothing, and keep dreaming silently.

There’s a big shock, something thrusting against the hull of his boat, shaking it forcefully, that pulls Chris out of his profound thoughts in less than a half second. Turning his head from right to left and left to right rapidly, Chris tries to catch what it is that almost made him capsize. That was most definitely a big fish, a shark maybe, a whale perhaps, since Chris is always expecting for the worst scenario to happen, why not go for the most improbable one.

Something _just_ jumped out of the water, surprising him while he’s praying internally –externally, as well- to not find himself in front of an immense unknown creature. It looks nothing like a fish... There’s a… head? Black hair… moving. It’s definitely moving closer to him.

Chris is panicking. Terrorized. That’s a head. That really is a head. In front of him.

Big fishes, he knows how to handle; sharks he would find a way; an unknown giant octopus, he would have fainted and died without pain; but a human head floating in the ocean, that’s clearly something Chris wasn’t expecting. He’s isn’t ashamed to say he’s scared, terrified. Petrified as well, his stomach tightening inside, his heart beating fast.

_That’s a damn head._

And the head turns, facing him, leaving Chris bewildered. It’s a boy, probably not much older, maybe even younger than he is. Swimming, in the middle of the ocean. Alone. In the middle of nowhere. With no boats to be seen around. And the head smiles at him. With kindness.

“Wow, I’m sorry!” the floating head says.

The head is talking. _The head is talking_. The voice coming from it is charming, sweet and calm, captivating.

Chris doesn’t know what to say, he’s still in shock, the melody of the waves keeping him company in his confusion. And what... How? The head is moving, floating all by itself and there’s something behind it, Chris can’t describe what it is exactly. It looks like fish scales but, he’s not sure; they’re colours he’s never seen before. So… _beautiful_. Hypnotizing. The head is moving closer and closer, until it jumps out of the water and Chris falls backwards, butt first in the boat.

When he tries to sit up, there are two elbows leaning on the edge of his boat. Chris looks up only to see there are also two beautiful pale blue-grey eyes staring at him; the boy tilting his head on to side, looking concerned.

“Are you alright, sailor?”

Chris’ eyes widens, he blinks and inhales deeply. His voice… so… magical; soothing his stress.

He finds himself surrounded by an unexpected feeling of peacefulness, sitting in his boat and staring at the gorgeous dark haired boy who’s staring back at him. Straight into his eyes. Those two beautiful, sapphire-blue eyes, even more captivating than the voice is. It feels like his soul is leaving his body. Like this boy is absorbing his energy. He just can’t look away. Mesmerized.

“I’m- I’m okay,” Chris manages to say, swallowing dryly. His lips trembling a little and his butt may hurt him a little too.

The boy smiles then, a bright, large smile, and it’s contagious, Chris smiles in turn, unsure why. He laughs and blushing, he looks down at his feet and then back at the boy again. He shifts to kneel and move closer to him, the fear slowly fading away; it’s now pure fascination that’s filling him. Attraction. Magnetism. He can’t fight it.

He’s really close to him now, Chris can see what’s behind his head and he gets a glimpse of something full of scales, moving, waving the water. Hitting it in soft, almost inaudible sounds. It’s the same _something_ from earlier, with those beautiful colours.

“I’m sorry I rammed into your boat. I was playing with Scarlett and I didn’t notice you were in the way.”

“Scar-Scarlett?”

“Yes,” he answers smiling widely again, his voice full of joy and happiness, excitement. “She’s a dolphin! You may have seen her around. She loves it there, the water is perfectly warm.”

“A-a dolphin?”

His butt may hurt him a little, but the shock must have hurt the boy even more.

“Yes!” He says with as much enthusiasm, looking around him, “she was there a minute ago, she shouldn’t be far. Just wait!”

His smile, his voice, there’s really something spellbinding about him. Chris can’t look anywhere else besides his face, he’s not fascinated by the tail anymore, because that’s what it is, a tail full of fish scales waving behind the floating head, he’s only fascinated by the boy’s face. His damn beautiful face. Strands of wet hair covering his forehead, drops of water falling and rolling down his nose and cheeks, and he suddenly makes that incredible delectable noise. A sweet, lovely purr, and it almost rocks Chris to sleep, more effective than the lullaby his mom used to sing him to sleep with. So much more powerful. Pleasing. Enthralling. Calming.

Before Chris understands what’s happening, something else jumps out of the water, not far from them, and it’s, indeed, a dolphin and Chris is too smart to even think it’s a coincidence. It’s still a lot to swallow, but that can’t be a coincidence.

“There, you saw her? That’s Scarlett!” The boy in the water says, tone still so cheerful. “She’s beautiful isn’t she? But don’t tell her I said that.”

The boy laughs, and Chris doesn’t know what to answer once again. Is he dreaming all of this? He’s probably just taking a nap on his boat right now and all of this is a figment of his imagination, maybe he’s been exposed to the sunlight for too long. He’s mom gonna be mad if he did.

His laugh is wonderfully relaxing, and Chris can’t stop watching him. He doesn’t know why, but he can’t keep his eyes off of the boy, as much as he can’t stop beaming.

They spend hours like this, staring, talking, and Chris learns that the boy has a name, and that name is Sebastian. He learns that Sebastian loves everything that glitters -he learnt it because Chris took out one hook to show Sebastian how his fishing rood works. They discussed fishing and Chris had to explain why he was doing it. Why he was eating and selling fishes.

He learnt that Sebastian is around his age and that he’s a merman; but he also learnt that it’s something Sebastian should have never said and that he felt really stupid confessing it.

Chris though, Chris finds it so great, and wonderful. Intriguing. It’s unusual, and he never thought such beautiful creatures really existed, he thought it was just a legend, a myth his father and grandfather told him to scare him, to amuse him. Sebastian swore mermaids never killed any sailors, at least none he knows. No member of his family, and Chris chose to trust him. In fact it wasn’t really a choice; Chris knew he could trust him, that was all. As simple as that.

They talked about their families but sun quickly surrendered, leaving the place for heavy clouds and rain; a storm starting to grow, hiding the moon Chris loves so much. So Chris navigated back to the coast, followed closely by Sebastian, swimming and jumping, passing under his boat once in a while to amuse him. Laughing and _still_ so beautiful.

The way he moves, and swims, faster than Chris in his little boat, with so much elegance and it looks so easy. Graceful and effortless.

When they reached the peer is was time for their goodbyes and Sebastian promised he’d try to find Chris again, one day.

Four years went by before Chris saw Sebastian a second time. Four long years. Unending. He was with his father on their boat, hard at work, and Chris’ father was at the front, taking care of the first catch of fishes when Chris saw Sebastian from afar. He recognized him right away and he swore it took Sebastian only one second to show up under his feet.

He looked like he barely aged. It’s a face Chris will never forget. He stayed as stunning as the day they met, and Chris stayed as captivated by his face as he was the first time.

They didn’t have much time, but Chris wasted it, beaming, unable to say a word, caught in Sebastian’s gaze. He noticed the tail again though, and he missed the beautiful colours adorning it. He had forgotten how vivid they were. It had grown, it looked bigger and brighter. The colours more scintillating than ever. He missed Sebastian, and he had so much to tell him, so much he wanted to share with his friend, but he couldn’t and hearing his father walking back in his direction, he made Sebastian promise to find him where he left him years ago, later on that day.

Chris’ father was difficult to convince, but Chris eventually got the permission to join him home later. Sitting on the exact same dock where he left Sebastian years ago, Chris waited. And waited. Minutes, hours. Maybe Sebastian forgot where it was, maybe he didn’t want to come, maybe he couldn’t. Chris almost gave up and started to think about the possibility of heading back home when he saw him, swimming fast, under the moonlight. Radiant.

Jumping head first out of the water, spraying Chris at the same, he was finally there. In front of him. With that damn smile and that wet hair.

They talked then, for hours, catching up. Chris told Sebastian about his grandfather that passed away two years before, and Sebastian said he was sorry, said if he’d known he would have found Chris earlier. They talked about what Chris has been doing since they last saw each other, that his father gave him a lot more responsibility now.

Sebastian also told Chris his parents found out he let a human discover his secret, and they had him kept an eye on him since that day. He didn’t want to bring Chris any trouble, so he stayed away. Confessed sometimes he knew Chris was around so he would come and observe him work. But he’s a grownup now, and his parents aren’t responsible for him, that’s how it works, so Sebastian can make his own decisions. And it was his decision to meet Chris again, because he wanted to. Because he missed Chris too.

Chris asked about Scarlett, and he was relieved to know she was okay, and that she had babies. Sebastian even said that Chris could see her again one day if he wanted to.

They talked, and joked, as if the last four years hadn’t happened, it felt like they were seeing each other the very next day with just a lot more to talk about. Sebastian laughed about Chris having a scruffy face, even touched it. And that was the first time they actually touched each other, Chris being curious about how Sebastian’s tail would feel under his fingertips, and it felt nice. Wet, viscous but warm and soft. He passed his hand along the length of it for long minutes, marvelling at the feeling of each and every distinct scale under his fingers. Delicate and subtle. His caudal fin, thin and strong at the same time.

They stayed together for a few more hours. Chris sitting on the deck and Sebastian staying warm underwater. And Chris came home late, so late that his parents were really unhappy with him the next morning. His father woke him up by making as much noise as possible while eating his breakfast. Chris was now sleeping on the couch in the living room; with his grand father gone, his parents migrated to the bedroom for more privacy and comfort.

That’s how their routine started. After that night, Chris and Sebastian saw each other every few weeks, during years. Years of friendship, years of laugh and years of swimming together, because Chris would always jump in the water to join Sebastian.

They would share a lot during one night; it was like the world would stop just for them with the moon as a witness of their secret, forbidden friendship. A friendship they’d have to hide from both of their worlds, forever. But it was one night of happiness for days of sorrow and emptiness. The more time passed and the truer it became. Hours felt like seconds when Chris was with Sebastian, and they felt like years once he was walking back home. As if he was leaving his heart on their deck. Abandoning it for months until he was finally able to come back there again; smiling becoming easier at each step leading him closer to the ocean. Closer to Sebastian.

It took them seven more years, to understand what they were actually feeling, that it was possible to feel this way toward each other. That it was a special kind of friendship. Nobody ever told them, that love required only connecting with someone, nothing more, and nothing less. Just two souls meeting and falling in love, slowly but surely.

Seven long years to figure out they were in love with each other. Five more to do something about it. A shy kiss, hidden by the darkness of the night at their deck, the moon to protect them from any curious eye.

Oh, that night Chris’ heart was jumping in his chest. It was no secret, they discussed it, their feelings, but doing something about it was a huge step, one that still felt natural. Chris had one arm wrapped around Sebastian’s waist, his hand falling slightly on his tail, they were laughing seconds before and Sebastian’s fingers brushed Chris’ hair away from his eyes, his touch enthralling. They just leaned in, lips meeting sweetly. A chaste kiss slowly sinking underwater. 

But after _that_ night, days apart felt worst, like a slow death. Agonizing at every second spent away. Chris wanted adventure and Sebastian popped his little bubble and Chris felt like he was drowning. An anchor around his ankle, dragging him to the bottom of an endless ocean, without Sebastian to help him breathe. But they took their time, all of their time.

Chris was thirty-one the night they first kissed; he was thirty-three when Sebastian told him they should run away together. Begged him to run away with him, because he refused to let Chris marry the girl his parents wanted him to. He’ll never forget Sebastian’s expression, his words, his tone. He’ll never forgive himself for letting him go. For hurting him.

A whole year passed without them meeting again. Almost two.

Chris was thirty-four, and crying, salty tears mixing with the cold, salty water of a winter night; warmed up only by Sebastian’s arms wrapped around him when he told Sebastian his mother died. They weren’t at the dock that night, Chris took his boat, navigated through the ocean, desperately trying to find Sebastian. He hadn’t seen him in almost two years that night but it didn’t seem like it. All he wanted was Sebastian; all he needed was him. And he felt like a fool for letting him go two years before.

After their last conversation, Chris married that girl and Sebastian never showed up at their dock again. Chris still came, sat and thought about a lot of things. About how his life would have been different if he had run away with Sebastian. He was hoping to see him again, hoping that maybe Sebastian would miss him, hoping that maybe he was coming here to isolate himself from the world once in a while. That maybe he was coming to observe Chris without ever coming to him, like he confessed once before.

Part of him considered it was stupid to think about this possibility, because he could go anywhere he wanted. Sebastian was free, he could travel the seven seas, Chris was the one trapped here, as he’s always been. But he was there that night, with him, comforting him; he found him, and Chris missed him. Missed him so much.

Chris was thirty-four, the same night, when he ran away with Sebastian. The easiest decision he’s ever made.

Deciding to leave his wife, to let her believe she lost her husband to the sea, she just never knew she lost him to a sea-man. His mother gone, Chris was ashamed to admit nothing was holding him there anymore. Not his wife, not his father either. Surely not the fishing business. His mother has always been the only reason he couldn’t leave and now she was gone. He was sure she’d want him to be happy and the key to Chris’ happiness was hidden in one name: Sebastian.

It felt natural, to get used to the tail, to breathe underwater, to get used to seeing Sebastian every day, every night.

Chris discovered a magical world, he saw the deepest of the oceans, the most beautiful seas, and he saw a world he dreamed of, in ways he never thought would be possible. He discovered his world was endless. There was no such thing as the end of the planet. No limit, no hole he could have thrown himself into. And he felt relieved. He travelled around the world more times than he could count.

That night, they vanished into the sea, hand in hand. They ran away, together. The world was infinite, and they were eternal.


End file.
